


Worthy of Being Levi

by sunnyappleseeds



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Backstory, Blood, Blood and Torture, Dark, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Non-Explicit Sex, Non-Graphic Rape/Non-Con, Past Child Abuse, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Sexual Abuse, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-11
Updated: 2014-08-11
Packaged: 2018-02-12 17:02:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2117814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnyappleseeds/pseuds/sunnyappleseeds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Erwin summoned Levi to his office to have him sign some papers concerning Eren's transference to the Survey Corps. However, after finishing up with the task at hand, the corporal ends up enlightening Erwin with a glimpse into his past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Worthy of Being Levi

**Author's Note:**

> Let me begin with a warning: this is a pretty dark story, and while it's not explicit, there is some very heavy and dark stuff in it, so please keep that in mind if you intend to read this! Also, there are spoilers for those of you not caught up with the manga! On another note, this story explores a Levi and Kenny's past relationship as well as some Eruri fluff. Enjoy!

Rays of light filtered through the window of Erwin’s office as he sat at his oaken desk, sighing heavily as he examined yet another report concerning the Survey Corps’ funding. He had been at this same task for hours, and he truly felt as though his eyes were going to pop out from the strain of reading such fine print. However, his mind was pried away from that train of thought when he heard the thick, wooden door swing open.

“Ah, Levi,” the blond acknowledged his visitor, “I was beginning to wonder when you would arrive. I sent Mike to fetch you quite a while ago.”

“I would have been here sooner if Hange hadn’t started rambling on about her experiments,” Levi replied as he approached Erwin’s desk, “and judging by that stack of paperwork, I'm guessing that you didn’t invite me up here to fuck me?”

Erwin appeared to be slightly amused by the captain’s statement. “Unfortunately, that’s not the reason," the commander replied, "though I can certainly change that."

Levi narrowed his eyes at the blond, glaring in a scrutinizing fashion that masked his anticipation upon hearing Erwin's suggestive declaration.

"Before we get to that," the man lacking in height said after watching Erwin's cerulean eyes seductively rake over his petite body, "you should probably tell me what it is that you originally wanted, because there's no way that I'm doing anything after getting my ass pounded."

"Right, of course," Erwin briefly shook his head in order to refocus on the matter at hand, "I received some paperwork concerning the custody of Eren Jaeger,” the man began rummaging through the many documents atop his desk in search of said files, “they need to be signed and returned before he is officially transferred to us, and since he has been placed under your direct control, your signature is required.”

Finally finding the papers underneath a pile of reports, Erwin placed them at the edge of the desk in order for Levi to view. The shorter man quickly scanned over the words before removing the pen from the inkwell and scrawling his name in beautiful cursive.

He put the writing utensil back in its appropriate place and slid the document back towards Erwin, who wore a contemplative expression upon his face. “Why is it that you sign the name ‘Levi’ on paperwork?”

The man in question deadpanned at Erwin, staring at him as though he had committed a grave offense. “What the hell kind of a question is that?” Levi’s steel eyes continued to scrutinize his commanding officer. “I sign the name ‘Levi’ because it’s my name. What else would I use?”

Erwin made a quiet sound as though he were about to speak before abruptly growing silent, a hint of both embarrassment and entertainment creeping across his features. “Let me rephrase that… why do you only sign your first name?”

“Oh,” it was clear that Levi was relieved upon realizing that it was a misunderstanding rather than complete incompetence on Erwin’s behalf, “I don’t have a last name, or rather, I don’t know what it is.”

“That’s odd,” the commander remarked as he mulled over Levi’s words.

“There are many people without family ties in this world,” the man of a shorter stature replied, “many children are orphaned at a young age and unable to recall such trivial things.”

“I suppose that’s true, but those children often take on the surname of their caretaker,” Erwin reasoned with the other man, who was now seated in one of the leather arm chairs adjacent to the large desk, “I presume this was not the case with you?”

Erwin watched intently as Levi visibly tensed after the inquiry. “I can’t say for sure if I was an orphan. I know that my mother died when I was very young, and I’m not entirely certain as to who my father is. It may have been the man that took care of me in my youth, but I honestly don’t know if I was related to him… though I sincerely hope that I don’t share his blood.”

“Why is that?” Erwin pressed, for he was truly curious about Levi’s past, as the corporal rarely disclosed personal information such as this.

“I’m assuming that you have heard the stories about Kenny the Ripper?” The question seemed a bit out of the ordinary, but Erwin knew that Levi would not bring up such a topic had it been irrelevant.

“I have,” the other admitted, “though most sources dismiss those tales as nothing but fictitious legends.”

“I often heard that he was fake, as well,” Levi stated, “but he’s the one who raised me, if you can even refer to what he did as that.”

Erwin maintained his silence as he processed this new information; he could not claim to be overly surprised by this fact, as he had assumed this was the case from the moment Levi brought up the serial killer. However, it was still an unsettling piece of information, yet it also explained how his subordinate became such a skilled warrior, for the rumors surrounding Kenny's existence made him out to be quite a powerful man.

“I see why you would not be willing to accept his name,” Erwin finally stated as he examined the way that Levi struggled to suppress his boiling emotions, “it was rumored that he killed over one hundred members of the Military Police; I don’t believe that many people would want to be associated with such a person.”

“He murdered a lot more people than that, and while it’s true that I want nothing to do with such a wretched excuse for a human being, I wouldn’t be able to claim his surname even if I wanted to. I don’t know what it is,” he admitted before noting the confusion located upon Erwin’s face, “I only referred to him as ‘father;’ he never told me his name. The only reason I even know his first name is due to all of the whores he would bring to our shithole of a house; they would always scream his name really loud, especially when he pulled a knife on them.”

Not knowing exactly how to respond to Levi’s revelation, the commander simply did not speak, granting Levi with the opportunity to continue if he so wished.

“After he disposed of their bodies, I would wipe down the entire room. If it wasn’t spotless by the time he came back from wherever he dumped their remains, he would beat the shit out of me. I suppose that’s why I have an obsession with cleaning,” Levi gravely stated before adding more gruesome details, “and if he ended up killing any of those asinine women before he finished fucking them, he would use me as a replacement until he was satisfied.”

The memory of it all was so very vivid in Levi’s mind…

He was eight the first time it happened; Levi had been sitting on a moldy sofa in his dingy home when Kenny slammed the front door open, a giggling young woman latched onto his arm. She wore her makeup too thick, and her dress was unacceptable for even the Underground District’s standards, but that was typical for a prostitute.

"You be a good boy and stay out here until we're done,” Kenny had said, his gruff voice adding an edge to his words as he lead the young lady to the sole bedroom, “you got that, Levi?”

The young boy nodded in response before noticing that the woman was staring at him; most normal women would have probably left at that point, believing that the impending activities were unacceptable with a child in the house. However, this lady didn’t seem to care. It wasn’t as though she was here to judge Kenny’s character. She was just going to perform a number of tasks, receive her payment, and walk out the door… or so she thought.

Levi tried to block out the obscene sounds radiating from behind bedroom door as this stupid woman earned her next month’s rent, but there was absolutely no way to ignore the grotesque noises, even with his tiny hands clamped over his ears.

“Kenny?” The animalistic noises ceased after Levi heard the woman call out in uncertainty; there was panic in that voice, shear and utter terror as the situation seemingly escalated. “Put that away… what are you… stop! Kenny!” After his name, only the horrifying cry of death could be heard; it resonated throughout the shabby home before dying along with the victim.

Levi was terrified. He had suspected that Kenny was guilty of robbing people of their lives, as the man often returned with blood stains on his sleeves and the smell of iron clinging to his body, but this was the first time he had killed someone within the four crumbling walls that Levi referred to as ‘home,’ and it was beyond frightening.

“Yo, Levi,” his father figure's voice seeped through the door and demanded his presence, “c’mere. I want you to do something for me.” He did not want to comply with that command, but disobeying Kenny had never been a wise choice in the past; he had the scars to prove it.

With tremors wracking his petite body, Levi obliged, slowly rising from his filthy seat and advancing towards the bedroom. His hand trembled as it settled on the door knob, but he proceeded to pry the flimsy, wooden barrier open.

Blood. That’s all his metallic eyes could perceive. There was blood, so much blood. It poured from a gash in the woman’s neck and pooled on her exposed chest before gliding down her torso and saturating the already dirty sheets. Levi’s eyes flitted away from the crimson stain, leaping to Kenny, hoping to find some comfort in a face that was familiar.

However, there was no solace in looking at the man. His eyes were cold yet glazed over with a look that Levi could later identify as lust, his shirt was splattered with fresh blood, and his pants were riding low on his waist, allowing his arousal to proudly display itself.

“Don’t just stand in the doorway,” Kenny instructed the traumatized boy, “get your ass over here, kid.” Levi’s mind told him to bolt in the other direction, to flee from this wretched scene and never turn back, but he was afraid to disobey. Kenny was the only person he had; there was no one else, no one to turn to and nowhere to go.

So he willed his legs to move, and inch by inch, he got closer to Kenny…

Large, calloused hand latched onto him and stripped him of his clothing before roaming over his petite body, touching him in ways that seemed extremely unnatural. It was disgusting, nauseating to have a man that Levi revered as ‘father’ sensually caress his tiny frame. Yet he endured the unwanted treatment, struggling immensely to remain silent as fingers were roughly pushed into his body.

That silence, however, was completely shattered as those fingers were replaced with an excruciatingly larger part of this horrible man's body.

"If you don't want to end up like this whore, shut your damn mouth," Kenny grunted and forced himself deeper, "god, you're louder than that damn mother of yours was."

Knowing that Kenny would follow through with the threat of death, Levi desperately held in his screams yet still let tears streak his porcelain cheeks as his unwilling mind was forced to accept the cruelty of this world.

Levi was nothing more than a crumpled heap of broken emotions – a sputtering shell of a child – after Kenny had finally finished with him. He remained on the floor, gasping for air as pain seized his fragile body.

Kenny’s tall form towered over him as he straightened his appearance. “I gotta get this bitch’s body outta here,” he grumbled to himself before peering down at his protégé, “Levi, get this place cleaned up before I get back, got it?”

 

\---------

 

“I was just a brat back then,” Levi quietly stated after returning from the trance induced by his horrid memory, “I knew what he was doing wasn’t right, but I didn’t necessarily know it was wrong, either.”

“Levi, I’m…” Erwin attempted to console the captain, but his words drifted off, for he honestly didn’t know what to say. It was true that he and Levi were intimate with one another, yet he had never known that Levi’s past was so horrendous.

“It happened over two decades ago, Erwin,” Levi replied to the commander’s incomplete statement, “and I’m no longer a child unable to cope with it, so you shouldn’t treat me like one.”

The corporal was not stating that he had implicitly come to terms with Kenny’s past aggressions; he was merely claiming that he was now able to acknowledge it, for those unfortunate years of torment molded him into a man worthy of a singular name – worthy of being Levi.

“Sorry…” Erwin offered his apology; it was simple yet genuine, and it was evident by Levi’s expression that he accepted it. “If you don’t mind my asking,” Erwin added, “what happened to him? When I offered you a position in the military, you were no longer with him.”

“You didn’t offer me a position,” Levi scoffed, “you coerced me into joining, and as for your question, it’s something else I’m not sure of. The last time I saw him was when I was sixteen. Even though I was living in a personal hell for all those years, I had learned how to fight from observing him, so one day, I took the knife that he used to slit people’s throats and I jammed it into his chest. Can’t say for sure if he died, though. I took off after that, knowing that if he managed to survive, I would be the next person he would kill.

“But like I said, that was a long time ago,” Levi continued, “and if that bastard is still breathing, I doubt that he would be able to land a single hit on me now.”

“I certainly believe that’s true,” Erwin wore a gentle smile as he spoke, “they call you Humanity’s Strongest for a reason.”

Levi did not return the smile, but his face released the tension that it was previously holding, which was as close to a smile as this man ever ventured. Erwin then extended his arm across the surface of his desk, placing his palm up mere inches away from where Levi sat, beckoning the shorter male to take ahold of his hand. Cocking an eyebrow, the corporal lifted his own small hand and grasped Erwin’s.

“I’m sorry for making you recall such awful memories, Levi, but regardless of your past,” the commander’s voice changed; there was now a sense of tenderness to it, “and regardless of whether or not you want a surname, I would be more than happy to share the name ‘Smith’ with you.”

**Author's Note:**

> So when I read the manga, I got the impression that Levi and Kenny really seemed to hate each other, and the way I perceived it, it seemed as though something in the last caused the hatred as opposed to simply being at odds over the current predicament. I also found it interesting that Kenny refers to Levi as "Levi Ackerman" but Levi seems to be unaware of Kenny's last name, as he questioned it when the mustache guy used Kenny's surname. Thus, I decided to stem from there, and with my twisted mind, I developed this. Comments and criticisms are welcome, but please be nice!


End file.
